Big Bank Theory Awards 2026: Nine Winners Across Banking Technology, Payments and Finance

The 2026 Big Bank Theory Awards point to a banking industry changing through many different routes: incremental core modernization, finance built into business platforms, redesigned mobile services and faster access to earned wages. The nine winners range from established banks and technology providers to fintechs serving specific customer groups. Their reported adoption and performance figures offer a view of where financial services are being rebuilt around new distribution models and day-to-day business needs.

The awards, presented by Tearsheet, recognize organizations across banking, fintech, technology and financial infrastructure. The range of winners matters: modern banking increasingly depends on systems and partnerships that connect institutions to customers through channels beyond the traditional branch or standalone bank app.

Modernization and customer-facing banking

Temenos received Best Banking Technology Provider for a core banking approach that lets financial institutions replace components over time or add capabilities around existing systems. That flexibility addresses a major operational choice for banks: how to update aging technology while controlling the scope of a change. Temenos says more than 950 financial institutions run its core banking solutions, including U.S. deployments at Commerce Bank.

The company’s Value Benchmark reports 94% more customers per full-time equivalent at banks using Temenos Core. For institutions running Temenos solutions from front to back, the benchmark reports a 29% higher net promoter score and a 34% faster time to market. These are vendor-reported comparisons, but they show the business outcomes Temenos associates with its platform. Its AI features include Copilot for Core and agents that support developers and financial crime screening. The broader proposition is staged modernization, with AI added across both technical and operational workflows.

Citizens won Best Banking App after redesigning 65 customer experiences and moving 2.4 million customers to the new platform at launch earlier this year. The redesign focused on common tasks such as payments, transfers, card management and understanding account activity. Most primary services are available within two taps or fewer, according to the award profile.

The scale of the launch makes the work more than a visual refresh. Citizens changed how a large customer base reaches core functions, while aiming to increase use of tools that give customers more control over their accounts and support financial health. The account-level impact will depend on whether customers keep using those tools, but the initial migration shows the redesign reached a substantial share of the bank’s digital audience.

Lumin Digital, named Best Banking as a Service Platform, ties frequent product updates to reported institutional results. Independent S&P Global research cited in the award found that six U.S. institutions using Lumin generated $12.8 million in cumulative impact and a 145% return on investment over five years. The participating institutions also reported an 11% increase in products per customer, a 15% decline in churn and a 21% reduction in call center volume.

Lumin says it delivers more than 200 production enhancements each year, along with weekly updates. That release cadence is intended to let institutions keep improving their digital services without disruptive upgrade cycles. The cited results connect platform updates to customer and operating measures, giving the award a business-performance dimension beyond the technology itself.

Finance built into business workflows

Octane and Huntington Bank took Best Bank-Fintech Partnership for a financing program serving the outdoor power equipment industry. “Huntington Powered By Octane” places financing within dealer workflows, taking applicants from prequalification through closing on one platform and supporting both prime and near-prime borrowers.

Since launching in March 2026, the program has expanded from 20 pilot dealers to more than 900 enrolled dealerships, with over 19,000 financing applications submitted. Those figures show rapid growth in distribution and application volume. The model’s commercial logic is to connect a purchase, the financing decision and the dealer’s sales process in one digital experience, reducing handoffs in a fragmented transaction.

Parafin won Best Overall Embedded Finance Platform for putting small-business financing inside platforms that businesses already use. Partners including Amazon, Walmart, DoorDash and Gusto can offer personalized financing without directing business owners through a traditional loan application process. Parafin says its AI-driven underwriting uses more than 2.5 billion data points to assess real-time business performance, enabling partners to extend capital without taking on lending risk.

Since 2020, the platform has extended more than $45 billion in financing offers to over 50,000 businesses. Parafin also reports that 85% of first-time borrowers take a second advance. Offers extended measure the financing made available, rather than the amount borrowed, so the distinction matters when assessing scale. Still, the repeat-borrowing figure suggests that the platform is being used for continuing capital needs, not only as a one-time feature within a marketplace.

DailyPay received Best Payments as a Service Platform for giving employees access to wages they have already earned before their scheduled payday. Workers can view available pay in real time and transfer funds to bank accounts, debit cards or payment cards. Employers using the platform include Target, Hilton, McDonald’s, Kroger and HCA Healthcare.

DailyPay’s product connects payroll information with payment access between paydays. That puts the service at the intersection of employer systems and workers’ everyday cash needs. Its reach across large employers shows how earned-wage access can be integrated into existing employment relationships rather than offered only through a standalone financial app.

Partnership infrastructure and access

Pathward was named Partner Bank of the Year for supporting fintech programs across issuing, acquiring, digital payments, tax solutions and credit sponsorship. Its model gives partners access to several capabilities through one banking relationship, backed by operational, risk and compliance infrastructure. Over the past year, Pathward supported H&R Block, InComm Payments, Money Network, PayPal, TabaPay and Upstart, among others.

The breadth of those services makes the bank a behind-the-scenes part of multiple financial products. Pathward brings more than 20 years of partnership-banking experience and uses dedicated account teams and consultative governance to develop programs with partners. The award reflects a business model in which banks supply infrastructure and operational expertise that fintechs can build on.

PayJoy won Serving the Underserved for smartphone financing aimed at first-time borrowers in markets with limited traditional credit infrastructure. The company finances devices used by gig workers, women and micro-entrepreneurs, with on-time repayments intended to help customers build credit histories. Its underwriting uses alternative data and machine learning; the repayment structure features fixed schedules, no late fees and no compounding interest.

PayJoy says it has financed more than $3.5 billion in loans to over 20 million people across nine countries. One-third of its customers, or 33%, are new to credit, while women make up 49% of its customer base. Those figures describe the company’s reach and customer mix. The underlying proposition links a smartphone, which can be essential for work, with a financing arrangement that may also establish a repayment record.

CineFi took Best New Product for a digital banking service designed for people working in entertainment. Launched by First Entertainment Credit Union, it combines more than 50 years of entertainment-industry experience with digital checking and savings, round-up savings, early direct deposit, no account fees and access to more than 33,000 surcharge-free ATMs.

The intended audience extends across film, television, music, gaming, content creation and influencing, as well as the nonprofits, schools, festivals and organizations connected to the creative economy. CineFi’s design starts with a specific industry community and packages familiar banking features around it. That approach reflects a broader pattern among this year’s winners: financial products are finding room to grow when they meet customers inside the channels, employers and industries they already rely on.

Across the nine awards, the clearest signal is the variety of routes to scale. Some winners are updating banking infrastructure; others are embedding credit and payments into commerce, work or industry-specific services. The reported figures show reach and operating outcomes, while the longer-term test will be whether these models sustain adoption and deliver value as they expand.

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